Tonight’s Creeptober movie is the last bit of funny before things get very bleak and heavy during the final few days of this horror movie marathon. Tonight we watch Slither.
Reacting to Slither
I remember the night I saw Slither when it was first released. I left the theater very happy and excited about what I’d just watched. I don’t think I realized at the time that the writer and director of Slither, James Gunn, had also written the script for Dawn of the Dead (2004), but I’m pretty sure I did know that he’d written Tromeo and Juliet (1996). I was not a fan of Tromeo and Juliet at the time (I need to revisit it sometime), so my enjoyment of Slither was enhanced by the fact that I wasn’t expecting much. Little did I expect James Gunn to go on to become one of my favorite filmmakers and the main creative force of the DC Universe.
Many people have many strong opinions about James Gunn and his work. I tend to enjoy his movies and shows quite a lot because of the heart and humor that he weaves into each of his projects. James Gunn makes fun movies that are meant to make you feel something, but aren’t meant to be taken too seriously. Some of his more recent projects have some very strong dramatic moments, but that’s never at the expense of the fun and funny parts. And vice versa, I don’t find that the humor in James Gunn’s stories undercuts the drama. Many people on social media would vehemently disagree with me on this point, but Gunn’s blending of comedy and drama actually enhances the effectiveness of both. Most of the time, anyway.
Slither, Gunn’s first movie as a director, never gets too deep into the drama, and that’s perfectly fine for what this story is. It’s an ode to B-movies mostly from the 1980s, but also a little from the 1970s. It’s meant to be enjoyed on a level any deeper than that. Good fun, a few good and cheesy scares, and a bit of gross-out body horror. I love it.
I remember many people back in 2006 claiming Slither was a rip-off of Night of the Creeps (1986), and yeah, I can see some similarities. But I can also see similarities with Slither and a bunch of other horror movies. David Cronenberg’s Shivers (1975) comes to mind immediately, because the bathtub scenes in both movies start out in extremely similar ways. There’s actually a lot of influence from Cronenberg in Slither, but I don’t think Gunn ripped him off. I don’t think he ripped off Fred Dekker (writer and director Night of the Creeps) either. I mean, Dekker’s movie is also an homage to B-movies, so of course there are going to be similarities. I don’t know if people still think that Slither is a rip-off, but I’ve never felt that way.
Aside from the B-movie aesthetic which I adore, I also thoroughly enjoy the dynamics between the main characters. I particularly enjoy how the relationship between Bill (Nathan Fillion) and Starla (Elizabeth Banks) is handled. In a typical B-movie we’d probably see Starla and Bill kiss at the end of the movie and walk away hand in hand, but here it’s a bit more complicated.
Grant (Michael Rooker) is Starla’s husband. He’s not the most likable guy even before he’s infected with a sentient alien disease, but he’s not your typical “lousy husband” type of character. He has a chance to cheat on Starla, but he doesn’t. I’m not saying people should get bonus points for not cheating, but in many movies he’d probably have gone through with it (Grant doesn’t, um, penetrate Brenda until after his brain has been infected). Starla isn’t happy in her marriage, but she does have feelings for Grant. We can see how happy she is when they have a good morning together. That feels genuine.
We can also see that Bill still has feelings for Starla. He’s not really hiding that fact, but he’s also not acting on his emotions. He respects Starla and her feelings. He’ll risk his life for her, but he’ll keep an emotional distance if that’s what she wants. This is particularly clear at the end of the movie when, after Bill has injected Grant with propane and Starla blows him up, they don’t kiss. They don’t even embrace. The most contact they have is Starla holding Bill’s hand to her face. They check on each other and are relieved they’re both alive, but the romance is left understated. For an homage to cheesy B-movies, the emotional core of Slither is surprisingly mature.
I know that idea of emotional maturity in James Gunn’s work is dismissed by many, but it’s there. There are also plenty of dumb and juvenile jokes in Slither (my favorite is when the kid at the beginning asks what a ‘gina is), and there are gallons of slime and gore, but there’s also plenty of heart. All those things can coexist, and, in my opinion, James Gunn brings them together in entertaining ways.
